Life is sweet
for beekeepers in Greece

Pesticide-free Greek honey is famed for its unique aroma and taste, but many were surprised
when Athens voted against an EU push to ban pesticides considered harmful to apiculture

By Isabel Malsang / AFP, ATHENS

Sun, Apr 28, 2013 - Page 14

The rosemary season has ended, but sage is in full bloom.

In the fragrant hills of the Peloponnese in southern Greece, after a few sharp turns along a path, Nikos Reppas’ old car arrives at bee heaven: a field full of violet hyacinths, close to the prehistoric ruins of Mycenae.

Since antiquity, when according to Greek mythology the god of love, Eros, dipped his arrows into honey before shooting them, the golden liquid has been flowing in abundance in this country, free of genetic modification and gleaned from vast, uncultivated lands.

And whereas other countries are struggling with high bee mortality, that is one global crisis that has yet to touch debt-plagued Greece.

“Colony collapse disorder is a problem in the United States and some European countries like Germany and Spain... We don’t have this problem in Greece yet,” said Paschalis Harizanis, a professor at the Agricultural University of Athens.

The reason is that Greek beekeepers are still able to keep their activities at a safe distance from commercial farming, and therefore away from pesticides.

“Greek honey owes its unique aroma and taste to the fact that the better part of Greece is home to forests and wild ecosystems, with only 29.32 percent of the land allocated to farming,” the federation of Greek beekeepers’ associations (OMSE) said.

However, this could change.

Last month, Greece voted in Brussels against a ban on pesticides considered harmful to bees and apiculture. The European Commission wants the insecticides banned for use on four major crops — maize (corn), rape seed, sunflower and cotton — in a bid to prevent a disastrous collapse in the bee population.

Experts have isolated three compounds causing concern — clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam, known as neonicotinoids — which are present in insecticides produced by pharmaceutical giants Bayer, Syngenta and Cruiser OSR.

However, with 13 votes in favor and nine against, the ban was not adopted, while a new vote could be scheduled before the summer.

“The Greek vote ... was a major disappointment to us and we fail to understand it,” the OMSE said.

“Not banning the pesticides does not help agriculture. It does not help biodiversity, it does not help humans and insects. No one benefits from bees dying,” said Elena Danali, of Greenpeace Greece.

For 46-year-old Nikos Reppas, a beekeeper in Nafplio whose family has been in the apiculture business for 200 years, life is dictated by flowers.

“In February we have the rosemary flowers, then in March come the sage flowers. Then those of oranges, pollen, the flowers of thyme in June, those of chestnut and oak trees in July, heather in September and carob in October,” he said.

This country of about 11 million has 20,000 registered beekeepers, more than 1,500 of whom make their living from beekeeping, Harizanis said.

The country produces between 12,000 and 17,000 tonnes of honey per year, which makes it the second-largest honey producer in Europe after Spain.

However, there is still a long way to go for Greece in terms of world exports, something the indebted country is desperately in need of.

Despite its striking honey production, Greece last year actually imported more honey than it exported (2,000 tonnes versus 800 tonnes).

Instead of selling to others, Greeks prefer to keep their sweet stuff close to home.

Greeks are the top consumers of honey in the world, with an average consumption of 1.7kg per person compared with 0.4 kg in the US, Harizanis said.

“I love this. There is no other way you can do this profession, if you don’t love it,” Reppas said.

“My father is 77 years old going on 78 and still works professionally. A beekeeper is for life. You are born and you die as a beekeeper,” he said.